Thursday, March 10, 2016

Haul: Sniff My Tarts January 2016

Have you decided whether you're going to participate in Sniff My Tarts' Easter loaves sale? If so, have you figured out what blends you want your loaves in? Want some more blend options to make your choice just that much harder? Yes? Spectacular.

I was lucky enough to get my order in pretty quickly after Amy opened - it took about 5 minutes from start to finish, including some trouble on my end that I can't even remember. It was something to do with the checkout process. I was in the first group of orders. This order was placed on January 15th and shipped on February 29th. A decent amount of time, but I knew how long this could possibly take going into this order.

What's that? You want to see what it is I got? Okay, I guess :)

First off, my frosted cookies! I got 5, the maximum allowed, and used these to experiment with some blends that might be outside of my comfort zone.

Pink Noel/Sweet Lavender/Marshmallow Cake: "SMT Blend"/"This scent is a must try!"/"SMT Blend" Thank you, scent description page. -.-
Did I say out of my comfort zone? Yes, I sure did. That doesn't mean I can't experiment with a blend or two that I was sure I would like anyway! This one is very marshmallow-ey, very lavender-ey, very... everything-ey. It's very sweet but every note is definitely there in equal amounts. I'm excited for how this performs once melted. I hope the proportions stay the same. If so, this is going on my loaves list. I paid $5 for 4.3oz.

Blackberry/Banana/Circus Concession: Pure blackberry without any perfume or candy tones/fresh ripened banana/cotton candy, caramelized apples, funnel cakes.
A nice banana and blackberry blend. I don't really pick up on circus concession. This is going to be a great summer scent! I paid $5 f or 3.8 oz

Sweet Lavender/Marshmallow Cake/Sticky Pink Serendipity: blah/blah/blah. Nothing useful, but then again these are pretty self explanatory blends to those of us who have been in the wax world for a while.
I know, I keep trying out serendipity blends in the hope that I can find a good blend that does not become overpowered on the serendipity. This particular blend has no serendipity in it on cold sniff. The frosting is sweet lavender marshmallow cake, and the cookie smells like pink sugar. It's really good, it just smells like my other pink sugar/lavender/marshmallow blend. I paid $5 for 3.9 oz.

Circus Concession/Grape/Mango Sorbet: Cotton candy, caramelized apples, funnel cakes/sweet and sour grape/ripe mango, juicy lemons, red raspberries.
I really like the grape in this. It switches between a grape gum scent and a sweet, artificial grape. The mango sorbet isn't bad, either! I can pick up just a little of circus concession. This is another summer scent. $5/3.8 oz

Jack Frost/Country Christmas: Creamy mint and vanilla/bayberries, cranberries, apples, nutmeg, cloves, orange zests.
Hm. When smelling this out of the box I thought of my pine/fir essential oils I tried using in soapmaking. You know, the 'pine' scents that end up smelling like lemon pledge and really artificial? I definitely do not pick up on these described notes for Country Christmas. The Jack Frost part of this is really good, though! This scent is going into my winter box, and I don't think I will be melting it unless a big winter storm comes in. $5/3.4 oz

That's it for my cookies! Now on to my loaf and pies!

Peggy's Blueberry Noel: No scent description available.
I've melted this before and loved it. For my thoughts on it, please read this post. For those of you too lazy to read it, just know that I liked it enough to get an entire loaf. $19.20/15.3 oz

Ice Cream Cake Batter/Cotton Candy/Pomegranate: Vanilla, almond, sugar cane, cake batter/strawberry, sugar, sweet vanilla/none available.
I pick up on very sweet strawberries in a sea of vanilla on cold sniff and that's about all. I'm hoping this will shine more once melted. $10.75/10.7 oz

Pink Chiffon Type/Sweet Lavender/Japanese Cherry Blossom Type: Exotic fruits, vanilla orchid, sweet vanilla, whipped chiffon musk/blah/Japanese cherry blossoms, mimosa petals, vanilla, tonka bean, oriental woods.
I feel like I'm walking into a Bath and Body Works store - and in a good way. Pink Chiffon is one of my favorite BBW scents, so I wanted to see how it would work in wax combined with some other scents I enjoy. The Japanese cherry blossom is very faint here, making this a lavender & chiffon blend with just a hint of JCB in the background. Quite nice, but most likely not everyone's cup of tea. $10.75/10.5 oz

On to the chunks!

Creamy Eggnog/Starbucks Vanilla Latte: Creamy eggnog dusted with nutmeg/Rich, full-bodies espresso, creamy steamed milk, rich vanilla syrup.
I just get a generic bready scent when sniffing this. I think I will have to hold off on judgement until I melt this (which really should be done with all wax). $12/10.1 oz

Blue Raspberry Slushee/Blonde Moment: Raspberries, cotton candy, 'the effervescence of crushed ice'/iced champagne, sweet raspberry and cranberry.
A sweet and sugary blend with a hint of fizz. This will have to wait for a hot day - in other words, Summer. I noticed while going through my wax before my SMT order that I needed more summer blends, thus the huge volume of summer scents. $12/11.2 oz.

Cotton Candy/Sweet Lavender/Strawberry & Kiwi: Fresh strawberry, sugar, sweet vanilla/blah/strawberry and kiwi. Are you liking my very descriptive 'blah's? :P
Mmmm... Strawberry & kiwi are the first notes I pick up on, followed by a handful of lavender, followed by that typical cotton candy scent. Really a splendid blend. I love how tart the kiwi makes this otherwise sweet blend. $12/13.2 oz. (Yes!!! I got a lot of one of my favorite blends in this order!! WOOHOOOOO- *cough* I mean, how fortuitous.)

I also have to take a moment to point out how absolutely gorgeous these chunks turned out. I love the swirls in the pink and... I don't know, just ogle this picture for me and tell me the wax is pretty, will ya? :)

Now that you've finished oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over the wax, let's move on to my no-fuss chunks!

Pink Fairy Dust/Ice Cream Cake Batter/Lavender Berry: "SMT Blend"/creamy vanilla, almond, sugar cane, cake batter/the combination of fruits and floral.
It's hard to say whether I'd like this or not. I get a very heavy wax note when I sniff the bag and not much else. Wait. *sniff* Okay. Very light ice cream. On the exhale, cake batter. Another sniff brings me the lavender berry which I only recognize because Julie sent me a piped heart in this scent. I really hope that this blend isn't as light once melted. It actually smells quite nice now that I've taken a chance to really sniff at the bag like a crack addict. $10/8.6 oz.

Ice Cream Cake Batter/Fresh Picked Strawberries: Creamy vanilla, almond, sugar cane, cake batter/fresh... picked... strawberries. I don't know what I expected the 2nd one to be described as. What comes to mind are those games where you're supposed to describe something without using the actual name/concept in your explanation.
Okay, I'm kind of biased about this one because I've already melted it. It was one of the first things I melted (do you recognize it in this post?) and I'm already telling you I'm getting one of SMT's larger loaves in this scent tomorrow. On cold sniff, this is a big fat dud. Very faint sweet strawberries. Whoopty doo. I like it, but it's not what I freakin' ordered! Once melted the ice cream cake batter and strawberries turn into a super authentic strawberry cake batter scent that is knock your socks off strong. Michael pulled the warmer out of the fridge and took the wax disc out for me and commented on how amazing it smells. Okay, it was more "Awh, why did you un-melt this? If this is what I'm smelling (it was) I want it back!" Yes, he called freezing the wax un-melting it. $10/8.4 oz.

Jack Frost/Candy Cane/Winter Green: Creamy mint, vanilla/Christmas candy canes/cool, crisp notes that will export you to the forests of the frozen alps.
Mint on mint on mint. Whooooooey this is one minty blend. Did I mention that there's some mint in it? Think of wintergreen mints, candy canes, and peppermint blended and added to vanilla ice cream. While it may not taste very good (actually it sounds amazing to me) it smells divine. Oh Juuuuuuulie, this one just might be the kind of mint you'd enjoy! I promise it's not overbearingly sweet. At least on cold sniff. I'll melt it, evaluate it, then decide if I'm going to send you a piece or two :) $10/8.1 oz

Pink Sugar/Plumeria/Peppermint: Self explanatory/sweet floral combination/Crisp, clean, true peppermint. Sorry I didn't include pink sugar. That scent description was incredibly long for a scent I'm pretty sure every wax lover knows.
This is a predominantly peppermint blend. I pick up on a little pink sugar and plumeria; just enough to sweeten the deal and create a symphony for the senses. Okay, one single sense. This is another favorite. $10/8.1 oz.

Ice Cream Cake Batter/Fresh Picked Strawberries: I'm not typing this up a 2nd time on one post!
Yes. One of my samples was my own blend. LOL! The good thing is I really, really like this one so I'm quite happy with it. I received 1.6 oz.

Now for the price breakdown!Total Before Shipping: $141.70Total After Shipping: $155.07Total Wax Received: 126.7 oz.Freebies Received: 1.7 oz (I'm not including my own blend in the freebies. Included in total wax received)Price/Ounce without shipping: $1.12/ozPrice/Ounce with shipping: $1.22/oz

Not bad, not bad. Definitely one of the more expensive wax companies, but now that I've broken the math down I don't feel so stressed about it. Would I order again? Definitely. I can greatly appreciate how easy it is to track where exactly your order is among all of the other orders and get a pretty accurate estimate on how long it will take Donna & Amy to finish your order up.
Another note - this is my first order I've made where I actually blended scents!! I think I did pretty well. There are obvious comfort zones that I stuck to, but I'm still incredibly happy with my out of the ordinary cookie blends I made.

Are you ordering from SMT this Friday/Saturday (timezones, yaay!)? What do you plan to get?

2 comments:

Two gigantically awesome hauls in one day?!?! Boooo yah! Love the photos! So colorful! My CNS from SMT came. Dead excited. Ok on to the scents! You did a fabulous first time blending but I knew you would ;-) I am curious about your pink plumeria mint. Sadly wintergreen makes me loose my gourd. Reminds me of my dipping days. I got worried for a second that the no fuss melts were going to be light throwers but I see at least one bloomed. Whew. I personally get s lighter throw from their Bog Top and Circus scents. :-/

I am definitely ordering loaves. The smaller ones. One minty, one pink, one vanilla, and crazy. Like Dragons Blood and butter brickle crazy. Which if I hate it, I will have lots of it to hate lol!! Call me loopy. Are you ordering?

I was going to push this second haul post to the morning but realized that people need more time to decide on blends for their loaf sale. I'm so kind :PBummer on the wintergreen. I love love love it! Does that mean you don't like wintergreen mint candies?! *scandalous gasp*I can't wait to see what you decide to order in the sale!I am definitely ordering! Next month is my birthday, after all ;)